Pneumatic organ player



C. MEIER.

PNEUMAUC ORGAN PLAYER. APPLICATION FILED MAY 8, 1919.

1,405,932. 'Patented Feb. 7, 1922.

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M Wm www5@ ffm C. MEIER.

PNEUMATIC ORGAN PLAYER' APPLICATION FILED MAY a. 191s.

1,405,982. Patented Feb. 7, 1922.

. 4 SHEETS-SHEET 2- rf/vro C. MEIER.

PNEUMATIC ORGAN PLAYER.

APPLICATION FILED MAY a. 1919.

1,405,932. Patentedreb. 7, 1922.

4 SHEETS-SHEET a,

c l e s s l n s l l s O l o l l t l n s n l n C. MEIER.

PNEUMATIC ORGAN PLAYER. APPLICATION FILED MAY s, I9I9.

UNITED STATES CHARLES MEIER, 0F HAVERHILL, IOWA.

PNEUMATIC ORGAN PLAYER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 7, 1922.

Application led May 8, 1919. Serial No. 295,755.

T o a-ZZ w wm t 'may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES Manin, a citizen of the United States, andresident of Haverhill, in the county of Marshall and State of Iowa, haveinvented a certain new and useful Pneumatic Organ Player, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My invention relates to a certain new and useful improvement in the artof automatic player attachments for organs, and my objects are toprovide simple and inexpensive means that may be used on a reed organ,wherebyothe organ may be played by a slightly modified ordinarykeyboard-player having a perforated sheet, the perforations beingadapted to admit air to work through pneumatic devices to valves.

A further object is to provide an attachment of this character,comprising a supplemental bellows, a. valve box and an air operatedmotor, which may be combined with an ordinary organ and an ordinaryorgan player attachment, in such a manner that the supplemental bellowswill coact with the bellows or an ordinary organ to actuate the variousdevices of the player attachment; and YFurther so constructed that whenthe organ is being played without the organ player the supplementalbellows playing mechanism will not in any way materially increase thepower required for furnishing pneumatic action to operate the reeds. j

A further object is to provide means whereby the combined mechanism maybe operated from the ordinary organ pedal, thus dispensing with thenecessity for the operator to pay any attention whatever to the Vmeansfor supplying power to the music and. take-up rolls when the device isbeing used as an automatic player.

llfith these and other objects in view, my invention consists in theconstruction, arrangement. and combination ot' the various partis of thedevice.v whereby the objects contemplated are attained, as hereinaftermore 'fully set forth, pointed out in my claims, andillustrated in theaccompanying` drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a vert-ical sectional view taken on the line 1-1 of Figure2, and having parts of the reed mechanism broken away to betterillustratethe construction.`

Figure 2 is a top or plan view of the device, parts being broken away tobetter illustrate the construction.,k

Figure 3 is a Jfront elevation of my invention, with portions of thecasing removed.

Figure 4 is a horizontal sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of Figure1.

Figure 5 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 5 5 of Figure l.

Figure 6 is a front elevation of the roll supporting cabinet or trackerbox.

Figure 7 is a vertical, transverse, central sectional View through theroll supporting cabinet.

Figure 8 shows an enlarged detail view of the reversing mechanism forcontrolling the movement of the player rolls; and

Figure 9 is a detail elevation showing a portion broken away to show thetracker, said view also showing the relative position of certain of theair conducting tubes relative to the mechanism which they are designedto operate.

Referring to the accompanying drawings I have used the reference numeral10 to indicate generally the ends of the casing in which my improveddevice is installed, between which are extended top and bottom members11 and 12.

Somewhat below the center of the casing is a transverse horizont-alpartition 13. Ad-

jacent to the forward edge of the partition 13 the reeds of the organ,are supported, one being shown in Fig. 1. Below this reed is an ordinaryvalve 13"L provided with an actuating stem Mwhich is normally yieldinglyheld at the upper limit ot its movement by means of a spring 141.

Below the partition 13 a bellows is disposed, which comprises a mainrigid portion 15 and movable pumpers 16 at the front thereof. Themovable portions 16 are hinged adjacent to their lower edges andprovided with valves l'i' which may be constructed ot' a flap of paperdesigned to normally close an opening shown in dotted lines in FigureAdjacent to the rear portion of the rigid portion 15 is'a movable reservoir portion 1.8, which is normally held expanded by means of springs 19which are secured to the trame by means of brackets 20.

A pedal 21 is pivoted to the front casing 22, adjacent to the lowerportion ofthe cas- Y ing, andV has a laterally extending portion 23which may be engaged by V'thefoot of the voperator for moving the pedal.

Y The inner end ofthe pedal 21 is' pivoted at 24 to an upwardlyextending link 25,

Vwhich in turnis pivoted to thehorizontalA arm of a bell crank lever 26.The lever 26 ispivoted tofa'bracketa27 secured to the bot-y tom of thepartition 13, and the vertical arm Vof the lever extends to positionadjacent to the movable bellowsvmember 16, where it is pivoted toabracket 28. -i f v Extending Aupwardly from the pivot 24 and rotatablymounted thereon, is a link 29 which hasnits lupper end pivoted tol alsubstantially'horizontajl lever 30. 4The horizontal lever'30 Aprojectsthrough a transverse casing member 31 similar to the4 member-22,

' and is pivoted to said Lmember intermediate of its ends. A clevis 32is secured to the lever outsidelthe 'casing member 31 by Va pin `33, andforms a ,bearing for verticalY pintles 34. The'pintles; 34 varesecured'to an outwardlyy extending lever or handle 35 having aslot 36therein in position somewhat spaced fromthe' `pintles34. The outer endof thelever 30 is bent to extend through the slot 36 when the latter isin position subl stantially aligned with the lever 3 0. 1

'From .the description o the OIGgOIIg parts it Vwill be Vseen that thehandles vor levers 35' may beswungonthe pintles `34 to position Wherethey are substantially aligned with 'the lever 30, at which'time theymay be movedup and down on the pivot of the lever30 to therebycausevertical reciprocation of the link 29. Reciprocation of the link129 causesswinging or" the pedal V21 by means ofthe pivot 24, andtheparts are so arranged that the; handle 35 or the pedal 21, or both, mayVbe 'swung to cause ieciprocation of the bellows member 16.

vIt will be noted that the pivoti24 is somewhatloosely received `within1the pedal21,

Vlever38 vandlinks 25 and 29,V so that the` dii?-V terence .inthepivotal-lengths of the parts Above the transverse partition13a-djacent to the rear portionofthe casingis a wind chest v40, havingmovable pumpers 41 pivoted theretov atiV 42 on a vertical axis.V

Valves 43 are provided YforV they movable pumpers 41, and areconstructed to operate in the same' manner that the valve 17 operates.

Fixed to fthe bottom of thepartition 13, adjacentto the rear edgethereof, are a pair of'brackets 44, designed to pivotally receive bellcrank levers A145,-. of the bell Vcrank levers 45 have their outerendspivotedto the Vupper end of the links v39,V and the vertical arms ofthe bell crank levers have their upper ends pivoted to Vbrackets 46extending from and secured to the pumpers'4l." Y Y Y vFrom theVconstruction of the parts Vjust described it will be .seen thatswingingoi thepedal 21, either by means applied to the pedal orto thehandle 35, will cause Vswinging of the lever 38, -reciprocationof thelink 39, and by means of the bell lcrank lever 45 a horizontalreciprocation of the inner ends ofV the pumpers '41,. thus operatingthem simultaneously with the main bellows. e

.A block 47 and asecond block 48 mounted respectively above and belowthe partition 13 and between the wind chest 40 and the main bellows,'have openings therethrough The horizontal arms forming thepassageway 49indicated by the dotted`1ines in vFigure` 1, whereby free communic'ationis permitted between the main bellows andthe auxiliary bellows.

A valve casing 50 rests on the wind chest 40 and communicates therewithby means of apassageway indicated by the dotted lines in Figure 2. VThechamber or casing 5() is divided into two compartments by ahorizontalpartition `51 having a pair of openings 52 and 53 therein, indicatedV bythe dotted lines in Figure 4.-V These'openings are provided with slidingvalve members 54 and 55, whichare operated to cover and uncover theopenings 52 and 53 bymeans of valve-controlling rods 56 and 57 extendedthrough the walls of the casing.

' Supported in the upper part o f the organ casingby means of a casing58 isa frameworkV comprising vthree horizontally spaced members 60, 61and 62, Vand vertical endVV members' 63 and 64. `This framework is'designed to support the pneumatic playing means, and the'h'orizontalmembers 61 and 62k areV provided with centralV longitudinal openings 65and v66designed to communicate Y with an opening 67 through the casing58. This opening or passageway is connected with the opening 49 throughthe block 48 to thereby connect these passageways in the members 61 and62 with the bellows..

An ordinary organ reed (not shown) is placed in the path between theopening 67 and bellows 68, and when the bellows 68 are operated, it willcause the reed mechanism ,to` operate.

l l'O 68 Vmounted on either the member 61 or 62 and communicating withthe opening therethrough by ay passage 69. Communication between thepassageways and 66 and the passageway 69 is normally prevented by avalve 70 normally held in closed position by a spring 71. The valve 70is supported on a stem or rod 72 which is mounted for horizontaltransverse reciprocation within the members 61 and 62 as by means of anopening 73.

At the rear end of each rod 72 a bore 75 is formed within the members 62and 63, within which extends a piston 76 secured to the rod 72. The rearends of the cylinders communicate with the tubes 77 which extendoutwardly (see Figures 1, 7 and 9) from the members 61 and 62 and whichare adapted to form air-tight connections with flexible tubes 78. i

From the construction of the parts just described it will be seen that apartial vacuum will be caused by the operation of the bellows within thepassageways 65 and 66, which will, however, not normally affect thebellows 68, as the valre 70 is normally held in closed position toprevent communication between thev passageways 65 and 66 and the bellowsv68. If, however, air at atmospheric pressure be admitted through thetubes 78 to the cylinders 75 the pistons 76 will be moved by thepressure of the air at atmospheric pressure to thereby move the valves70 against the pressure of the springs 71 and permit communicationbetween the passages 65 and 66 .and the bellows 68.

The movable leaves 79 of the bellows 68 extend forwardly and somewhatloosely receive rods 80. The rods 80 are screwthreaded adjacent to themembers 79, and are provided with co-acting washers 81 and intermediatecompressible pads 82, whereby swingingmotionof the members 79 caused bypartially exhausting the air within the bellows 68 may cause verticalreciprocation of the rods 80.

The lower ends of the rods l80 are bent to -form a horizontal portionadapted to be pivotally received in the forward ends of levers 83. Thelevers 83 are pivoted substantially midway between their ends betweenbrackets 84 extended down from the members 62, and the forward ends ofthe levers 83 are normally yieldingly held at the upper limit of theirmotion by means of springs 85.

Vertical rods or wires 86 are somewhat loosely received in the rear endsof the levers 83 and are provided with screwthreads adapted to coactwith washers 87 and compressible pads 88 similar to the washers 81 andpads 82. The lower end of each wire 86 is bent to form a horizontalportion which is pivotally received in the rear arm of the rock shaft89. Each of the rock shafts 89 is pivotally mounted in a bearing 90secured to a transverse frame member 91, and the forward end of thelever is extended past the bearing 90 to position abutting against awasher or stop 92 secured to the valve stem 14 of the organ.

It will thus be noted that when air at atmospheric pressure is admittedto a tube 78 while Vthe air within the bellows is at less thanatmospheric pressure, then the parts just described will depress thevalve stem 14 and play one reedin the organ.

Above the frame members 60 is mounted a player roll casing comprisingvertical frame members 93 and 94 and a horizontal top memberV 95.Substantially midway between the top 95 and the members 60 is a tracker96 having a plurality of substantially parallel openings 97 extendedtherethrough. These openings 97 are in substantiallyhorizontal alignmentat the forward edge of the tracker 96, and diverge slightly fromeachother at the rear edge thereof, so that laterally extending nipples98 may be set into the tracker 96 around said openings. The free ends ofthe tubes 78 are pushed over the nipples 98 to form air-tight jointstherewith.

Above the tracker 96 in the vertical walls 93 and 94 shafts 99 and 100are ournaled in alignment with each other and extended through thewalls. The inner ends of the shafts 99 and 100 are provided with rollengaging devices 101. The shaft 99 is mounted to allow horizontalreciprocation thereof, and is yieldingly held at the inner limit of itsmotion by means of a spring 102 and collar 103. The shaft 100 is securedfrom longitudinal motion within the wall 94 by means of collars 104, anda pulley wheel 105 is secured to the outer end thereof.

Below the tracker 96 a shaft 106 is mounted in the wall 93 in a mannersimilar to the mounting of the shaft 99. A shaft 107 is mounted in thewall 94 in alignment with the shaft 106, and held from sliding movementtherein by washers 104.

From the construction of the parts just described it will bev seen thatthe music and take-up rolls have extended lugs 108 at either end thereofand be mounted wit-hin the receiving devices 101 'by pushing the shafts99 and 106 somewhat outwardly.

The. player rolls heretofore mentioned comprise a strip of flexiblematerial 109, such as paper, haring a. plurality of openings therein.

lt will thus be seen that mov-ement of the strip 109 past the member 96will successively permit air to enter the openings 97'-, which will thenpass through the tubes T8 and furnish air at atmospheric pressure to thecylinders 75, whereby the reeds of the organ mayv be operated wheneveran opening 110 registers with an opening 97.

Adjacent to the roll casing is mounted an air motor 111, adapted to beoperated by the partial vacuum within the bellows. A drive pulley112Aextends from themotor 111 and is connectedby abelt 113 with a pulley114 mountedon .aihorizont-alshat 115 which is `journaled inbrackets 116and 117 supported bythe frame members.60. The shaft 115 has a pulleyy118Wh-iehis aligned .-Withthe pulley `1`0A5zand. operati vely.connectedrthere- Ywith by meansof -a belt 119. yThe shaft 107 has a gear120 Y. mounted thereon, adapted tomesh with a gearr-121zmounted on astub shafti122 which isrotatably and slidably mounted l.Within the vWall94 in alignment with the shaft 115. Outside the tva-11,94 a

l clutoh1l23- havingan annular groove therein is secured to: the stubshaft 122.V The clutch 123:has aY pin 124 extended laterallythere-Afrom, adapted to enter a .notch in, or otherwise .suitably coact With,the pulley 118 to lock the? latter from rotation relative to the stub`shaftf122. It Will be noted that the stubshaft L:122 is slidably butnonrotatably Y securedito. the shaft. 115, and that thepulley 1181s.rotatably but nonslidably mounted on the shaft 115. Y

- From f the construction of the parts just described. it.Willbefseenthat rotation of the motor pulley. Wheel '112 impartsrotationY to the shaft 115. ,Rotation of the i Ashaft115 may in.v turnVimpart rotation to the shaft 10() bymeans ofthe pulleyv 118, belt :.119and pulleya105,1to rotate'theV latter shaft in the sameldirection as theshaft 115 when the pin .124' is inengagement with the pulley 118. 111:,however, the collar 123'be1mov`ed to position to disengage the pin 124from thepulley 118, it thenmoves thek gear 121 into engagement withthe.V vgear 120 to thereby rotatethe shaft 107 ina direction oppositetothe directionof rotation of the shaft 115 and at a considerably slowerspeed.

Movement` of the collar 123 therefore imparts rotationfselectively tothe player rolls in either direction. .Y I

The air motor l,111,communicates through .a tube 125 with the valvechamber 50and is operated bythe partial vacuum created within thebellows. Y l

A bracket126 is Supported by the member (iOand-the Wall 93, andpivotally vsupports a bell crank lever 127 having a horizontal armextended to position in front ofthe roll casing. The lower end of thevertical arm Vof the lever 127 is pivotally` connected to a. link 128,which inturn is pivotally connected to one arm 129 of a U-shaped leverhaving .the horizontal portion 130 and any arm131.v The horizontalportion 130 is journaled in a bearing 132 secured tothe member 60, andextends to posit-ion somewhat to the rear'of the rear edge of thememberl). Y Y

Adjacent to the right hand end of the Y member 60 a support 133pivot-ally supports a lever -134,.the rear end fof vwhich isipivotallyconnected to alinks135 extending betvveenthe arm131 and the lever 134.The forward end of the flever 134 is pivotally Vconnected toa :link 13.6-ivhich is slidably mounted in aibearing 137 near the middle ofthe frontedge of themember 60. The end'of the link 136 is turned up to formV a`pointeror vindicatingy device 136a adapted toooact With marksorcharacters -138 on a Y x Y plate 139 -moiuitedf on thetop of they member60 and within'fthe roll casing. i

A -bracket 4140l extends -fro-m the valve cas-lr A ing 50 andV carriesalever 1541 `which is pivoted intermediatel of-it-s ends -tosaid bracket;f

The forward ,end .of Ithe lever V-141 'is ,con-A nected to the rear endof theilever 134 by f al link1;142, and the rear-gend.V ofthe' lever1,41 pivotally receives i the end of; the Lvalve oper# atingrod 56. v

From the construction -o' the yparts justV described it Willbe seen thatmovement VYof the lever 127 operates through the'links and leversdescribed, to move the pointer 136a in frontY of therplate 139,*and3tosimultaneously move the valve 54,jabove the opening 52 to regulate theamount-of air drawn out' of the upper chamber `of vthe valve .casing to`the lowerrhamber.vv The lever 127 may alsobe Y. moved -suiicientlytoclosethe `opening52 entirely, and it willbe noted in this connectionthatWhilefboth .valves 54 and 55 close the openings 52 and .53the motor isentirely cut off fromV thegbellows so that no power'will be required forthemotor when:

the vcollar longitudinally. yrelative tov the Y shaft 115. The righthand 4end of the rod 145 fis extended to -fposition 4past the' righthand end ofthe member 6O,.Where it ispiv- 'Y otedtoftheupper end of a.lever 146 which ispivotally supported on anextension 147V from ytheframe member 64.

The lower end of the lever'146is pivotally connected to a link 148 whichisextended Vparallel with and alongthe front edge of the members 62.toposition adjacent Vto the casing 58, Where-it ispivotally connected toa=flever149- The lever 149V is pivoted at its upper end adjacent tothe`upper, portion of the4 casing 58, and its pivotal `connection Withthelink 148 is substantially midway betiveen'itsends. YThe lower end of thelever 149'is pivoted toa-link 150, which in turn is ipivotally connectedto a valve-op'A erating lever 151; The lever 151-is operativelyconnected with a valve-152 indicatedby the dotted lines inV Figure 3,which is 'adapted to close the passageV 67 when in one position tothereby cutv from the bellows 6 8.

Somewhat below the extension 147 is a bracket member 153 which extendsbetween the frame 'member 64 and the end casing member 10. Pivoted tothe bracket 153, intermediate of its ends, is a lever 154 which isconnected to the lever 146 by a link 155. The rear end of the lever 154is pivoted to the end of the valve operating rod 57.

From the construction of the parts just described it will be seen thatmovement of the lever 144 to its upper position will throw the gear 121into engagement with the gear 120 to thereby wind the music sheet forplaying a piece. It also simultaneously opens the valve 152 to therebypermit communication between the bellows and the reed operating bellows,and at the same time through the link 155 and lever 154 closes the valvev55, thereby forcing all the air received from the motor through thevalve chamber through the opening 52. A When the lever 144 is moved toits lower n position it moves the collar 123 to throw the pin 124 intoenga ement with the pulley 118 to thereby roll the rolls or music sheetin the op osite direction at an increased speed. Spimultaneously itcloses the valve 152 to prevent wasted power through the reed operatingbellows, and opens the valve 55 to thereb make the full power of thebellows availa le to the motor to thereby rewind the music sheet asrapidly as pos sible.

It will be noted that the levers 127 and 144 may be moved to position toentirely disconnect the player mechanism from the bellows so that thekeys 156 may be operated in the ordinary manner to play the reeds bymoving the valve stems 14 downward.

In the practical use and assuming that it is desired to transform anordinary reed organ into a combined reed organ and automatic playerdevice, using the same reeds, I provide within the organ casing theordinary automatic player attachment,compris ing rolls and a perforatedsheet and air passageways leading from the perforations of the roll tothe valve operating devices of the organ. This part of the device is ofthe ordinary construction and of itself forms no part of my invention.

However, when the device is used as an automatic player, then theoperator can very easily and readily apply more power with his feet tothe pedals and maintain through the main and supplemental bellows asuiciently large amount of air currents to provide all that is necessaryfor both the reeds and for the air motor, because when off the supplyof-air vthe operator is using his device, as an autorparts of the devicewithout departing from i Vthe essential features and purposes of my1nvention, and it is my intention to cover by my claims any modifiedforms of structure or use of mechanical equivalents which may bereasonably included within their scope.

I claim as my invention:

1. An automatic player attachment for reed organs of the class havingvacuum creating means, said attachment comprising bellows, means foroperating the lbellows simultaneously with the vacuum creating means ofthe reed organ, an air motor operated by the air flowing to the bellows,a valve arranged between the air motor and the bellows for controllingthe passage of air to the bellows, a perforated sheet feeding device,operated by the said air motor, and means controlled by the air passingthrough the perforations of the sheet for actuating the organ keys.

2. An automatic player attachment for reed organs of the class havingvacuum creating means, said attachment comprising bellows, means foroperating the bellows s1- multaneously with the vacuum creating means ofthe reed organ, an air motor operated by the air flowing to the bellows,a valve arranged between the air motor and the bellows for controllingthe passage of air to the bellows, a perforated sheet feeding deviceoperated by the said air motor, and means controlled by the air passingthrough the perforations of the sheet for actuating the organ keys, andmanually operated means between said air motor and said perforated sheetVfeeding device for reversin the movement of the latter.

3. The combination with having a bellows and pedals a reed organ toroperating the bellows, and keys for controlling the air passages for thereeds, of an automatic player attachment comprising music and take-uprolls designed to receive a perforated sheet, an air motor opera-tivelyconnected with the music and take-up rolls, a second bellows operativelyconnected with the pedals for actuating the main bellows, and a valvebetween the air motor and the second bellows for controlling the passageof air from the air motor.

4. The combination with a reed organ having a bellows and pedals foroperatmg the bellows, air passages to the reeds, of an automatic playerattachment comprising music and take-up rolls designed to receive aperforated sheet, an air motor operatively conand keys for controllingthe Y TTB Y of Y 'neotediwthft'he music fand ytakeupV rolls, a.

second bellows operatively oonneted with the pedals, e valvebetweenf'thefairfmotor and the second bellows 'forfcontrollingfthefaction ofthe eil' motor, Vmeans or l,proved-l :i 111g communicationVVbetween the mein and :the second bellows, and also between both 'saidbel-lowsrand ythepassageways'-lealdngto the organ reeds, a valve in saidpssageway from the bellows to the reeds, and 10KY means for controllingsaid valveautomat- Y cally( actuated upon eV Yreverse* of the rolls forrewndng. Y Y

Des Moines,V Iowa,` April 1351919.

CHARLES MEIER.

